Marquette women’s basketball (9-3, 1-0 Big East) notched its first conference win and second away victory of the season, 78-59, against the DePaul Blue Demons Sunday afternoon (6-9, 1-1 Big East). With the win in Chicago, Marquette has now won six straight contests against DePaul.
This season, Marquette won once before on the road, a 59-57 barnburner Nov. 29 at Rutgers, but Marquette maintained the tempo, pacing and energy of the contest throughout, even with DePaul’s graduate student forward Jorie Allen scoring all her 24 points in the second half. This came after she racked up two quick fouls that caused her to only play in four of the opening 20 minutes.
Multi-Dimensional Offense
Junior guard Jaidynn Mason set the tone early, scoring eight of Marquette’s 18 first quarter points, while also showcasing her ability to turn steals and defensive rebounds into points on the other end through getting to the post quickly. She finished with 16 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Four of Marquette’s starters finished over 15 points, with senior guard Lee Volker and sophomore forward Halle Vice each totaled 17 points, with Vice notching her second double-double of the season by also contributing 11 rebounds on the afternoon.
Sophomore forward Skylar Forbes led Marquette in scoring with 18 points, the outing being her 10th time this season in double figures.
Despite only converting 2-of-11 on 3-point shooting, Marquette found its offensive identity on the interior, outscoring DePaul 54-34 in the paint, and turning opposing turnovers into points. Illustrating Marquette’s balanced ball distribution, Volker, Mason and Vice totaled 16 assists between the three of them, two shy of the entire DePaul assist total for the game.
Bend Don’t Break
Allen and junior guard Taylor Johnson-Matthews gave Marquette’s defense all it could handle at Wintrust Arena, racking up a combined 43 points of the Blue Demons’ 59 total between the two of them.
When Allen sat for 16 minutes of the first half due to foul trouble, Johnson-Matthews contributed 15 points, including two shots from deep, but she only scored four more in the second half.
Despite the big days from Allen and Johnson-Matthews, Marquette utilized a single-digit opening quarter, then kept the rest of the DePaul attack in check and was able to maintain its double-digit lead throughout the second half through its balanced scoring distribution, and a plus-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Golden Eagles’ defense didn’t break under pressure from the Blue Demons, holding DePaul to 59 points, which is the ninth time in the first 12 games of this season that Marquette’s opponents have been held under the 60-point threshold.
Up Next
Marquette rings in the new year at the Al McGuire Center by going up against No. 7 UConn (11-2, 2-0 Big East) on New Year’s Day. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. CST.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at michael.severson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU